


a place we could escape sometime

by limekyber



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is soft, Canon Divergent, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Happy Ending, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Reylo - Freeform, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Throne Room Scene, Title from a Hozier Song, everyone is soft, how to prevent TROS: 101, if things went right in star wars, im soft, rey is also soft, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limekyber/pseuds/limekyber
Summary: what would happen if rey had taken ben's hand?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	a place we could escape sometime

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU SEE A TYPO NO YOU DON'T <3
> 
> seriously though, this is my first attempt at longer, multi-chapter fic! this was a WIP from early march that i dug up this morning and went "wow. this isn't terrible." so now all of you have to see it! have fun

“I want you to join me,” Ben held out his gloved, shaking hand. His eyes looked sad and afraid, but above that, they looked  _ inviting _ .

Everything leading up to this moment, this catalyst of their separation, their unity, their bond, whirled through Rey’s aching mind. Darkness. Light. The fire, eating up the walls around her. The Praetorian guards. The battle. The two halves of Snoke lying lifeless on the floor. And Ben. Ben.  _ Ben _ .

His words from earlier floated around in Rey’s head, soft against the sound of blood roaring between her ears. “ _ You’re nothing. But not to me. _ ”

And he was right. To the universe, to the grand scheme of things, whatever that even  _ means _ , Rey was nothing. Rey was nobody. But not to Ben. To him she was something — maybe even  _ everything _ — and that mattered more than anything to her.

She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes. Shit. She had tried to stay composed, tried not to cry, but the tears came anyway. His breathing was labored, and with every passing second, he looked closer to tears.

“... _ Please _ ,” he continued, his voice small.  _ Almost as small as he was when Luke tried to kill him _ , Rey thought. 

He had walked towards her while he spoke, the gap between them growing smaller. Rey knew what she had to do. 

She took a tentative step towards him, her eyes locked on his. “Ben...” 

Knowing that taking his hand was the right choice, she did it. With a tiny nod, she grabbed his hand and held fast. She didn’t take her eyes off of his, though, and so she saw it when his eyes widened a little, his expression softening.

“Ben,” her voice was as commanding as she could manage without being harsh. She let the hot tears roll down her face now, not even caring, “I’m not taking your hand,  _ you’re _ taking  _ mine _ . let’s get out of here. Call off this war. Let the past die, as you said. The Jedi, the Sith, the First Order, all of it. Can we just let it die?”

“I can’t. I c— god, I want to, you know I want to, but I can’t.” 

“Why not?”

“I have responsibilities. Orders. I can’t just— The war would continue, anyways. I can’t just call it off.”

“Then we can burn it all down. All of it. Liberate the troopers, destroy the ships, spare the officials… unless they don’t want that. Please, Ben. We can do it, I know we can.”

And the tears flowed from his eyes, too. Not only that, he smiled. Big and bright and fucking  _ perfect _ . “...Yeah. Yeah. Let’s do that.” he stammered, and suddenly it was obvious to Rey that he didn’t think he’d get this far.

She cracked a smile, wiping his tears with her free hand. “Now we have to figure this all out, but I didn’t think I’d be here like this. Asking you this.”

He took a second to process her words and nodded. “Yeah. me neither, never in a thousand years. But I’m… I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad this… the war and all of it, is ending. I never wanted this. I-” he stopped to breathe and collect his thoughts, looking away. “I wanted to be a pilot, like my dad,” Rey pictured Ben piloting the Falcon, and this made her smile.

“A pilot? I can see it.” this makes him laugh, and his laugh sends Rey’s heart aflutter. But his smile doesn’t last, and his eyes grow dark. “Yeah, a pilot. But Snoke,” he looks at what remained of Snoke, sneering as he said his name, “wanted different. He’s been in my head since… since I was a  _ child _ , I don’t know, as long as I can remember he’s been trying to sway me to the dark side, to make me into Kylo Ren. And he succeeded. But now he’s dead, and his voice isn’t in my head anymore.” he rambled on, and Rey could tell he had been waiting to be able to tell someone this for years, which broke her heart.

“So you’re free now,” she replies, only now noticing that she had been cupping her hand around his cheek, “he’s gone, and you’re free.”

“Yeah. yeah, he is.” He looked back at her, a slight smile growing on his lips, “I don’t have to be… Kylo, anymore. Oh -- also, did you know that Kylo Ren was just a stupid name I came up with as a child? The ‘ky’ being from Skywalker, the ‘lo’ from Solo, and Ren from… well, the Knights of Ren already had that name, so I took it.”

Rey laughs, incredulous. “Really? I always thought it would mean something… deep, or whatever.” this makes him laugh too, and he shakes his head. 

“No, I wasn’t smart enough to make it deep.”

“You were too! You just… didn’t think about that!”

“What’s the difference?”

They share a laugh, but a voice from the hallway outside makes them pause.

“Ahem. I don’t know whose voices I am hearing, Supreme Leader, but I am coming in.” It’s General Hux. His echoing footsteps grew louder as he approached.

_...Shit. Shit shit shit.  _ The two broke from their almost embrace, attempting to act natural despite nobody being there yet.

“Ben, what do we do? He’s going to come in!” Rey whispered, her eyes wide.

“Put the handcuffs back on,” he gestured to the discarded cuffs on the floor, “I’ll convince him of… something.”

“Are you  _ kidding me _ ? Just mind trick him or something!”

“I’m not kidding you,” and it’s too late, he was already putting them on her wrists. 

“..Ben. You owe me one for this.” she hissed, glaring daggers at him.

“Does my hand in marriage work?-”

Rey didn’t have time to unpack that, as Hux was already striding in.

“Supreme Leader, I need to tell you about an issue I’ve had with K-” he stopped in his tracks, taking in the wreckage that he just walked into. “ _ Kylo Ren _ ? What the hell is happening here? What did you do to the Supreme Leader?” Hux sputtered, scoffing as he said Ben’s stupid facade of a name.

“It wasn’t me, it was the girl.” he shoved her, lightly but hard enough to keep up with the act, “I’m going now to…  _ terminate _ her. I want to make it personal. But don’t think you’re in command while I’m gone -- Snoke named me as acting Supreme Leader. I will not be gone long.”

Hux gaped at this. “I- I don’t- what the f- ...what is going on, Ren?”

“I just told you, General. Now don’t stay too long, back to your post.”

He turned on his heel, pretending to drag Rey with him -- leaving Hux standing there, astonished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ben, can I lose the handcuffs yet?” Rey started as they entered the hallway, not neglecting the fact that Ben’s hand was still on her shoulder.

“Not until we get on a transport. Can’t look suspicious, you know,” he shrugged, and his voice dropped low, “And besides... I kind of like them on you.”

“Ben!” she laughed incredulously.

“Kidding, kidding. But yes. They stay until we’re on the ship.”

“And what ship will that be? Your shiny personal Tie?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed, “There’s not room for two in my Tie whisper— but thank you for calling it shiny. I had my Knights find and bring me the Falcon.”

Rey laughed at this. “The Falcon? Ben, you really are a Solo.”

He winced. “No. No, I’m not.” he raised his voice, shaking his head. Rey knew she had struck a sensitive spot.

“Ben… I’m sorry…” she murmured, glancing at him worriedly. He had mostly turned away, but she could see the pained expression in his eyes. 

“No, it’s okay. It’s fine.” he shook his head, his grip on her shoulder tightening.

“No, Ben, it’s not fine. But I’m here for you. You’re not alone.”

“...And neither are you,” he mumbled, completing the exchange that had connected them before.

They walked silently now, Rey glancing around every corner warily. She finally broke the long silence with an order, “Ben, we have to go back to the resistance fleet. They’re going to Crait. Your mother will be there, she wants you to be there, we can fix all this.”

“No. no, of course not. ...did you try to trick me? Is that what this is? You’re baiting me into coming back?” his voice was terse and strained, and the look his eyes betrayed anger.

“No, I’m not. Ben, you need to go back -- if only briefly -- to let them know that you’re back. To let Leia know. She wants you home, but I understand if you don’t want that.”

“Yeah, I don’t want that. And my mother… She really doesn’t want that either. She sent me away, why would she want me back?”

“You’re her son.” Rey protested. How could Leia not want her son back? The General was nothing like…  _ my parents, _ she thought.  _ Leia is nothing like my parents. _

“Her unwanted, evil son who killed his father.”

“You are not evil, and you are not unwanted. Even if she doesn’t want you back,” her voice was rising now, growing fervent, “I want you. I want you by my side. I  _ love  _ you, Ben.”

He laughs, covering his eyes with his hands. “Don’t say that, Rey. You’ll make me sad.” but his shaking voice betrayed that he was already crying.

“Ben? I think that’s the first time you’ve ever said my name.”

“Yeah?” he lowered a hand from his eyes, looking at her with his eyebrow raised.

“Yeah. I think you should say it more, you make it sound nice.”

“You’re just trying to cheer me up, aren’t you?”

“Well it’s working, is it not?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having reached the falcon, Rey heaved a large sigh and unshackled the stupid handcuffs.

“So -- What now?”


End file.
